Setback for TNSA, Salman Khan kick-starts Mental

Salman Khan will be going ahead with the shooting of his next Hindi film Mental, which was halted last month over differences between North-South fighters. The filming was stopped when the stuntmen from the South Indian film industries and Mumbai fought over equal distribution of work. The shooting will start next week.

The South Indian stuntmen halted the shooting of Mental last month demanding equal pay with their Bollywood counterparts and equal representation of them when they work in a particular Hindi film. According to the rule book, All India Film Employees Confederation (AIFEC) allows 70 percent of the fighters to be local and 30 percent from the region of the fight master. But the South fighters demanded for 50 percent representation which created the problem for Mental.

The dispute between stuntmen from the South Indian film industries and Mumbai halted the shooting of Mental. The director had hired a leading stunt director to choreograph an action sequence.

The incident made members of Tamil Nadu Stuntmen's Association (TNSA) to take a tough stand as they have decided not to work in any other language films unless Film Employees' Federation of South India (FEFSI) helps them arrive at mutual understanding over ongoing tussle between action artists from Tamil and Telugu film industries.

Salman Khan

Due to the incident, Salman Khan's Mental incurred losses of Rs 25 crores. The planned 12-day shooting came to grinding halt after South fighters boycotted the shoot over the issue.

Salman Khan

Now, the Mental makers have cancelled the deal with South fighters, who were signed to work in the forthcoming Hindi film. FWICE (Federation of Western India Cine Employees) President has said that the unreasonable demand has made them to take this stand.

Salman Khan

On the other end, a member of Tamil Nadu stuntmen association told, "We demand equal participation in work when we do films in other languages. If we are doing films in other languages, then we want to use half of our fighters."

Salman Khan

"Most Telugu films recently have refused to work collaboratively. They demand that we use only three of our fighters... We can't work like that and, therefore, we have decided not to work in films in other languages," he added.

Salman Khan's Mental

Salman Khan starrer Mental features Silambattam fame actress Sana Khan, Daisy Shah, Tabu, Ashmit Patel and others in the cast. The film is likely to release in the later part of the year. It is the remake of Telugu film Stalin directed by our own AR Murugadoss.